Meeting Diana Herself

September 25, 2010

Jason took me and the boys to DC for the National Book Festival!!
It was the funnest day ever.  There were books everywhere, authors, readers... heaven.
There was a lot to see and do, but I was most excited to see and meet one of my favorite authors,
Diana Gabaldon.

Look at my huge cheesy grin, I was a mix of nerves, joy and excitement.

For those of you who don't know, Diana Gabaldon is the author of one of my favorite series, the Outlander series.  

I love her books, and I think she is brilliant.

Me totally talking her ear off, gushing and gushing.

She was so kind and gracious to take her time to meet and speak to all of us (there was a small group of 10-15 people gathered around to meet her).  I told her how my Grandpa introduced the books to me, and how we read the last one together.  I told her how I have shared the books with almost every one I've met, and loaned out many copies.  I thanked her for her time and talent, and I tired to make some lame joke about her last book being a graphic novel, but I am sure it made no sense.  

She just nodded and smiled (sincerely, with kindness in her eyes) and let me talk, waiting for the chubby crazy lady to stop yammering. 

It was one of the highlights of my already super awesome summer.

After meeting Diana, we toured the rest of the festival.  

It was such a hot day, but we kept the boys happy with lots of popsicles, they were so well behaved.  

We made our way over to the author's signing pavilion, to get some books signed.  I tried to get Suzanne Collins to sign my book, but the line was so long they had to close it, maybe next year. 

 I waited an 90 minutes to get Diana Gabldon to sign her newest book, The Exile (the graphic novel-not my favorite-but still good).  Even though it was hot, and tiring standing in line, it was worth it.

After all my Diana madness was over, we made it over to the PBS tent to meet our good friends, the Pomeroy's 

(that we finally get to see more often now that we live in Virginia again!!!).

Clark enjoyed all the activities they had for the kids there, and the boys even got some free books.  

They had characters from some of the PBS shows, but Clark was too bashful to get a picture with any of his favorites.

I can't wait to go to the Book Festival again next year!!

After the festival we went to The Museum of Natural History. 

Clark, discovering the joy of a magnifying glass.

Clark and Taryn, little buddies. 

Clark ran around the museum like a crazy person, but Taryn did a good job keeping an eye on him.  Every time we meet up with the Pomeroy family, he gets so excited to see "my friends" he says, no matter how much I try to teach him Taryn's name, he just calls her friend. 

He loves having someone to play with. 

It was such a fun day trip to the city.  It made my heart ache for DC, and all the fun things we used to do when we lived there.  I was wishing that we lived in Alexandria again, rather than VA Beach, but I KNOW we are here for a reason... and at least we can drive up whenever we want.